7. Dishonored
Undeniably inspired by Ken Livine's 'Shock' series of games, Dishonored made good on its promise to bring stealth back to the fore. Using black magic to slither about your sandboxy environments was fun enough on its own, but giving players the option to stalk their prey with tactically unsubtle weapons like exploding-ammo matchlock pistols topped it off nicely. Yeah, options. That was where Dishonored really carved itself out as a fresh product. In an era of first-person shooters that are simply virtual fairground rides for the developer's set pieces, Arkane stuck the perfect balance of telling an intriguing story of revenge without holding your hand. The staggeringly well realised game world it set you free in was just the cherry on the cake. Speaking of which...